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OpinionWhat Peshawar suicide blast signals about terrorism in Pakistan
- Pakistan’s deteriorating security situation is linked to a resurgent TTP and the increasing fragility in neighbouring Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover
- Pakistan had supported the Afghan Taliban for years, but the relationship began to break down after the Afghan Taliban offered shelter to TTP fighters
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Earlier this week, a suicide blast ruptured the relative calm that had returned to Pakistan in recent years. The attack at a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed more than 100 people and stunned many Pakistanis who thought the days of such horrific suicide bombings were long behind them.
While Monday’s attack was among the worst in the country in a decade, the blast does not necessarily signal a return of terrorism so much as an escalation of a problem that never really went away.
The Pakistan Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), denied responsibility for Monday’s blast. Instead, a TTP faction, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed to be behind it.
But in many ways, Pakistan’s deteriorating security situation is directly linked to a resurgent TTP and the increasing fragility in neighbouring Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.
The Pakistani government had supported the Afghan Taliban for years, but the relationship began to break down after the Afghan Taliban offered shelter to TTP fighters and released thousands of terrorists from prison after taking power.
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